New Tour Boat Agreement Marks Beginning Of End For Maid Of The Mist Steamhip Operations Below The Falls

By Doug Draper

In what Niagara Parks Commission Chair Janice Thomson celebrated this February 22  “a great day for tourism in Niagara and across Ontario,’ an agreement has been approved with a new company to operate tour boats in the mist below the world-famous American and Horseshoe Falls.

Niagara Parks Commission Chair Janice Thomson. Photo by Doug Draper

The agreement, approved earlier that day by the provincial government and estimated to be worth more than $500 million dollars in revenues for the NPC over the next 30 years, also means the beginning of the end of American-owned Maid of the Mist Steamship Co. operating tour boats in the Canadian side of the Falls and another American-owned company, Hornblower Canada, preparing to take over the popular tour operation with a new fleet of boats in 1214.

“This marks the beginning of a new era for all of us,” said Thomson during a media briefing at a NPC site overlooking the Falls this February 22, and “it continues to build on what Niagara and Niagara Parks is all about – building memories and creating experiences that will last a lifetime.”

Thomson said the 30 year agreement with Hornblower Canada, a company with a record of operating tour boats to the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island off Manhattan, and in the waters off its hometown of San Francisco, California, among other places, will generate in excess of $300 million more in revenues for the NPC than previous agreements, and a guaranteed $67 million or more in the first five years. All of that revenue will go back into maintaining and enhancing the park system the NPC has been responsible for looking after since it was created by the province of Ontario 127 years ago, Thomson said.

Maid of the Mist plying the rapids below the Falls. File photo by Doug Draper

The NPC agreed to begin a tendering process for a new tour boat operator three years ago, after questions were raised in the public about Maid of the Mist Steamship being guaranteed another 25-year lease on commission lands for docking the boats downstream from the Falls without any formal competition. The process resulted in a total of six companies, including Maid of the Mist and two other American-owned firms and three Canadian-owned firms, tabling bids for the lease.

The bids were reviewed with the assistance of a procurement advisor, a provincially appointed fairness commission and a team of independent technical and financial evaluators, said Thomson, and she and her board are convinced that what she called an ‘exhaustive and fair process’ led the best choice for a new operator.

Thomson went on to say that Hornblower will introduce “a modern, new, environmentally friendly fleet of tour boats (including two 599-passenger vessel and one “rescue boat,” that will maximize the experience for passengers. The agreement also involves  investing millions of dollars in upgrading passenger facilities at the docking area and on a world-wide marking campaign to attract more visitors to the Niagara Parks.

There is no guarantee that the name “Maid of the Mist” will be retained for the new boats, said Thomson. That is up to the new operator, although it might be wise to do so since “there is over 100 years of history behind the name,” she said.

A Maid of the Mist vessel in the tour boat operation's early days.

There is also no guarantee that Maid of the Mist Steamship, which has leased the docking lands since 1972 and is now operating on a month-by-month contract with the commission, will continue operating until Hornblower gets underway two years from now. In a statement released after the NPC’s announcement, the steamship company’s president Christopher Glynn said “the implications of this decions are very complex, and impact on many parties and create many uncertainties, including whether or not a boat tour service will be offered in Niagara Falls, Ontario in 2012.”

However, Thomson and other commission officials are hopeful, given the monetary rewards of operating the tour boats, that the service will continue through this year and next.

In a separate media release yesterday, Ontario’s tourism minister Michael Chan said the outcome of the process “will help grow our economy, create jobs and offer exciting tourism experiences for Ontario families and visitors to Niagara Falls.”

The Maid of the Mist, as a touring operation, stretches back to 1846 and the name has become iconic, with the vessels featured in popular films, including the 1952 movie ‘Niagara’ starring Marilyn Monroe, and in many stories involving rescues of individuals from the waters below the Falls.

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